Unit Objectives and Main
Ideas
Main Ideas from National Science Education
Standards
Main Ideas from Benchmarks for Science
Literacy
FOOD FOR PLANTS UNIT: OBJECTIVES
1. Identify examples and non examples of food as
energy-containing material.
2. Describe the process of food production, food storage, and
food use in plants.
3. Describe the functions of seed parts.
4. Describe evidence that plants make and store food.
5. Identify energy and matter changes during the food making
process in plants.
6. Use models to represent processes in the plant that you cannot
see.
7. Trace all food energy back to plants and photosynthesis, categorizing plants as producers and animals as consumers.
8. Know that hypotheses are valuable even if they
turn out not to be true, if they lead to fruitful investigations
(Benchmarks, 6-8)
9. Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models
using evidence. (NSES, 5-8)
10. Think critically and logically to make the relationships
between evidence and explanations. (NSES, 5-8)
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FOOD FOR PLANTS UNIT: MAIN IDEAS
National Science Education Standards:
A.. Food provides energy and nutrients for growth and
development. (5-8, p. 168)
B Plants are producers - they make their own food. (5-8, p. 158).
C. Plants use solar energy to combine carbon dioxide and water into complex, energy rich compounds. This process of photosynthesis provides a vital connection between the sun and energy needs of living systems. (9-12, p. 184)
D. The energy for life primarily derives from the
sun. Plants capture energy by absorbing light and using it to
form energy-rich food.(9-12, p. 186)
E. All animals, including humans, are consumers, which obtain
food by eating other organisms. (5-8, p. 158)
F. Evidence consists of observations and data on which to base
scientific explanations. (p. 117)
G. Models are tentative schemes or structures that correspond to
real objects, events, or classes of events, and that have
explanatory power. Models help scientists and engineers understand how things
work. Models take many forms. (p. 117)
H. Scientific explanations incorporate existing scientific
knowledge and new evidence from observations, experiments, or
models into internally consistent, logical statements (p. 117).
I. Different terms, such as hypothesis and theory, are used to
describe different types of scientific explanation (p. 117).
J. It is normal for scientists to differ with one another about
the interpretation of the evidence or theory being considered.
Ideally, scientists acknowledge such conflict and work towards finding
evidence that will resolve their disagreement. (5-8, p. 171).Back
Benchmarks for Science Literacy
a. Food provides the fuel and building material for all
organisms. Plants use energy from the light to make sugars from
carbon dioxide and water. This food can be used immediately or stored for later
use. Organisms that eat plants break down the plant structures to
produce the materials and energy they need to survive. (6-8, p.
120)
b. Some source of energy is needed for all organisms to stay
alive and grow. (3-5, p. 119)
c. Almost all food energy come originally from sunlight. (6-8, p.
120)
d. Energy appears in different forms. (6-8, p. 85)
e. Models are often used to think about processes that happen too
slowly, too quickly, or on too small a scale to observe them
directly. (6-8, p. 269)
f. Scientists’ explanations about what happens in the world
come partly from what they observe, partly from what they think.
Sometimes scientists have different explanations for the same set of
observations. That usually leads to their making more
observations to resolve
the differences. (3-5, p. 11)
g. Scientists do not pay much attention to claims about how
something they know about works unless the claims are backed up
with evidence that can be confirmed and with a logical argument. (3-5,
p. 11)
h. Graphs, diagrams, sketches, maps, and stories can be used to
represent objects, events, and processes in the real world,
although such representations can never be exact in every detail. Back